Captain Planet: Blood and Water
by Hawki
Summary: Oneshot: The waters rose, and the planet boiled. All Gi could do was wait for that to happen, and behold the optimism of those more naive than her.


**Blood and Water**

The sun was setting over the Andaman Islands, as surely as it set over the whole world.

Had she said that out loud, Gi knew that she might have gotten a few looks, provided that the people around her understood English or Thai. She could speak a bit of Hindi, enough to get her by in this place, but not well enough to convey her thoughts in such a manner. And that was assuming she was going to speak it out loud at all. Not just sit on a deserted beach, watch the sun set in the west, and the waves lap up against the shore. In many ways, the Andaman Islands were paradise. All she could do was just sit here and wonder how long that would last.

She figured, not that long. Potentially paradise would be lost within her lifetime, as the world carried on its march to Hell. She'd been born in the 20th century, and wouldn't live to see the 21st. It wouldn't bother her so much if she didn't fear that humanity as a whole might not live to see the 21st century either, or at least, human civilization as mankind knew it. And while these islands had some of the last hunter-gatherer tribes on the planet, tribes that the Indian government had endeavoured to keep sheltered from the effects of the modern world…not everyone might survive the collapse of civilization. For indeed, what might survive the collapse of Earth's biosphere as the world marched towards the cliff named oblivion?

She didn't know. No-one knew. Sighing, she rubbed her glasses – she was only 47 years old, but felt two decades older. Her bones ached as much as her spirit, as she saw the sun giving the heat that was cooking the planet from the inside. At the water that was turning acidic, causing coral reefs to die. At the man who emerged from the water, walking up the beach, carrying the same swagger he always did. The man who walked up to her, grinning like a lost puppy who'd come home to his master with a bone between his teeth.

"Arthur," she said, not sitting up from the sand.

"Gi." He extended his arms.

"No hugs this time," Gi said.

"Oh." His smile faded a bit, even as hers widened.

"Kidding," she said, getting to her feet before embracing the metahuman in front of her. "It's good to see you."

* * *

They'd met six years ago, during an oil rig spill. Not long before the entire world changed. Before mankind discovered that it wasn't alone in the universe. That a god walked among them. Gi, for her part, had a more muted reaction than most. She'd dealt with extra-terrestrials before, one of which had as much malignance as the kryptonian referred to as Zod. She'd travelled to the Indian Ocean to see the structure that the kryptonians had deployed, the one that, if allowed to operate indefinitely, would have condemned all life on the planet to extinction faster than even the worst excesses of mankind. She'd dared to hope that the world might change. That as the sons of daughters of Earth had realized just how vulnerable their planet was, they might rally to defend it. An alien had saved all life on this world. Now it was up to them to do the same. Now, it was time to remember that Superman wasn't the first flying person in red pants to have graced the world, and that all could remember the legacy of Captain Planet.

No-one had. The world had descended into a state of paranoia, with everyone discussing the Man of Steel, to the "metahuman phenomenon," to most recently, the tidal waves that had devastated numerous cities and deposited islands' worth of plastic onto their shores. Gi had helped where she could, but from what Arthur had told her, it was Atlantean mercy that had averted the disaster, not human ingenuity.

"And how's ruling Atlantis anyway?" Gi asked. She took a bite of the fish that Arthur had collected – apparently being able to talk to fish didn't rule out eating them.

"Boring," he said, taking a much larger bite.

"Boring?" she asked.

He nodded as he chewed. "Imma sayin' that-"

"Close your mouth Arthur."

He scowled, but nevertheless obliged. "Mera handles most of the political stuff. Me? I'm the one trying to play all nice on the surface."

"Playing nice?" Gi tried to imagine Arthur doing such a thing.

"Yeah. Like, plastic pollution is bad, overfishing is bad…"

Tried, and failed.

"And they, like, get it, but I figure that while the threat of tidal waves is gone, there aren't that many people willing to do something about it." He took another bite of the fish. "I mean, not saying your old friends aren't-"

"Don't," Gi said. She put the fish down beside her. "Don't talk about them."

"Why not? Because you don't?"

Gi remained silent. She just sat there, averting Arthur's gaze, staring at the fire they'd kindled together. One of her friends could have started it with but a word. But…

"Come on," Arthur said. "I've visited Oceanus. They still remember you. How the Planeteers saved them."

" _Saved them_." Gi sighed. "That's great. We saved an underwater city." She looked at Arthur. "What about saving the world Arthur? Could we save that?"

"I did. Did I tell you about Steppenwolf?"

"Yes, you did." Gi sighed. "Saving the world from evil space aliens? We could do that, believe it or not. Saving mankind from itself? That's much harder."

"But your friends are still trying, right?"

Gi said nothing.

"Gi?"

She still said nothing. She just thought.

Saving the planet…that was what the Planeteers were trying to do at least. Last she heard, Kwame was in Saharan Africa, using his powers to help with the Great Green Wall. Ma-Ti was in South America, trying to change hearts and minds, and through that, the Amazon. Wheeler and Linka didn't stay in one place for long, especially since both their countries had more problems than could count, not to mention the costs of raising a family. But for all their efforts, they did it alone. The Planeteers had disbanded. She'd stayed on Hope Island longer than the others – she, the second summoned by Gaia, the last to leave her side. The last to see the Spirit of Earth before she faded away, a look of sorrow in her eyes.

"I've survived five mass extinctions and returned," Gaia had said. "I can survive a sixth."

Gi knew the truth then. Gaia couldn't save the world that had nourished her. She could only save herself, and what was left. To weather the storm as she'd done the volcano and the comet. To emerge with the coming of new life, once this period of apocalypse was over.

She'd never yelled, Gi reflected. She was facing a member of the race that was killing her planet, and never once showed anger. But she knew on that day, that she would never be welcome on Hope Island again. That day, she had taken the Geo Cruiser and flown as long as its battery had allowed. She'd run, and never stopped.

"Gi?"

"Hmm?" She looked at Arthur. For the first time since he'd stepped onto the beach, he had something that looked like concern on his face.

"You alright?" he said.

"I…" She sighed. "Sometimes I don't know how you stay so optimistic."

He shrugged. "Spent most of my life feeling non-optimistic. Not so sure I want to go back now."

"That's it?" Gi asked. "You just, what, decided that 'hey, the world sucks, but I might as well meet it with a smile?'"

He shrugged again. "Life ain't too bad," he said. "Got my dad. My mum. Not as many people want to kill me in Atlantis now. Brother's being less of a dick. Mera…" He trailed off.

"Go on," Gi said, smiling. "Tell me about Mera."

Arthur looked aside.

"Fine," she said, holding up her hands in mock protest. "When you're ready to tell me about your significant other, let me know."

"Least I got a significant other. What about you?"

The look on his face told her that he regretted the words immediately. But it was too late to stop the knife from impaling her breast. That which forced her to get up, brushing the sand off her shorts and looking at everything bar the metahuman in front of her.

"Gi…" Arthur said.

"It's fine," she said. "I get it." She began walking towards the shoreline.

"Gi, come on," Arthur said.

"Said I'm fine." She kept walking.

"No, you're not." He grabbed her, causing her to wince. "You're living like a hermit."

"Yes, I am," she said. "World's screwed over, and I'm waiting for it to end. And there's nothing I can do to save it."

"You…we…" Arthur sighed. "Look, I get it. There's a bunch of idiots running the show."

"It's not idiocy that's screwing us over, it's apathy," Gi snapped.

"And? How does that make them different from you?"

"Because I tried," Gi snapped. "I tried. The Planeteers tried. Gaia herself tried. And nearly twenty years later, do you know what we realized?" She moved her hands, mimicking an explosion. "It did nothing. Nothing meaningful. Nothing significant. World's still heating up, species are still going extinct, we're still driving gas-guzzling cars to the cliff and we're not slowing down fast enough." She gave him a shove. "So, yeah. Tell me about Steppenwolf. About Orm. About that guy with the laser eyes. You can win your battles. I can't."

A silence lingered between the two of them. Between two worlds, where land and sea met. The sea ever repeated its song. A bird added its cry to the chorus, as the beat of the tune kept the tempo that led ever onward to the song's end. When silence might take the world, with no birds to sing, and no humans to hear them.

"Sorry," Gi said.

"What you sorry about?" Arthur asked.

"Taking it out on you." She walked past him, looking out to the sea. The sun had gone, replaced by stars. Some worlds with life, some without – all looking down on a planet that was destroying herself.

"You've still got your ring though," Arthur said. "That's gotta count for something."

Gi snorted before wiping a tear away with her left hand, and holding up her right. Her power ring – given to her over twenty years ago, still on her finger. Gaia had let them keep all their rings. Not really a parting gift, but rather an acknowledgement of their efforts. Or so Gi suspected – Gaia had never explained her reason for letting the Planeteers keep their rings, only the rationale for choosing them in the first place.

 _And we failed,_ Gi reflected.

Arthur put a hand on her shoulder. He gave her a smile. Gi turned away and looked back at the sea.

"Water," she whispered.

Every one of the Planeteers had honed their skills over the time of their surface. The first time she had used her powers, she'd drenched herself and all her friends. Now, the effect was different. She could summon a wave to drench this entire beach if she wanted to, but instead, streams of water rose up into the cool night air. Forming the shape of a dolphin, which dove in and out of the waves. One after another, all along the beach.

"You always did love dolphins," Arthur said.

She smiled, even as she wiped more water from her eyes. "What can I say?" she said. "You talk to fish. I connect with mammals."

"Dunno. I got a ride inside a whale once."

"Huh. _Finding Nemo_?"

"No. _Pinocchio_."

"Oh."

The two stood there in silence. Watching dolphins jump in and out of the waves. A mimicry of a species not yet extinct, yet one day might be.

Stood there in the dark.

Waiting for the sun to rise over a dying world.

* * *

 _A/N_

 _So, sometime while watching_ Aquaman _(or after), I thought "saving Atlantis from pollution - think I've come across that before." Didn't take me long to remember Oceanus (a.k.a. "Not!Atlantis") from_ Captain Planet _. Like, anyone remember that?_

 _Well, drabbled this up regardless._


End file.
